Toon Moms: What Fakes!

originally published October 24, 2007

One of my favorite pastimes is kicking back and relaxing in front of a good cartoon. I am a major fan of “The Simpsons” (which I’ve watched religiously since the seventh grade), “Family Guy” and “American Dad.” I will also watch “King of the Hill” just because it’s animated, though the content could use some help, I think. Give me an evening with Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” and I’m in heaven. So much do I prefer humans in sketched form that I’ve only recently started reading the parts of the newspaper that aren’t comics.

Being the enthusiast that I am, it’s pretty tough for me to come to a reckoning with the fact that these innovative art forms are still in the dark ages when it comes to fairly representing the female sex. Marge, Lois, Francine and Peggy are all devoid of full-time careers. They all seem to play at working. Peggy has her sporadic substitute-teaching assignments and a newspaper column, Lois gives occasional piano lessons, and Marge and Francine have both attempted a career in real estate, but with the market being what it is… well, you know.

Now, I do understand that giving these ladies no nine-to-five job commitments does leave a lot of room for these storylines about their fumbled attempts to step out into the working world. However, all of these attempts result in a return to the domestic lair, and I wonder why these cartoons’ creators haven’t seen fit to give these animated chicks the high-powered careers that we’ve seen in their live-action counterparts for decades.

Claire Huxtable, Elyse Keaton, Maggie Seaver: they all juggled career and family without a hitch, and although the notion that it’s even possible is laughable, the meaning was there. Women could do it all and have it all: work, family, a clean house, and a helpful, attentive and equally involved spouse. Many young women were inspired by those images, so what message are the animated moms sending to girls out there?

I first took notice of this inequality as a child. I grew up watching “The Flintstones” and “The Jetsons” (among a score of other cartoons, as I was raised by a Sony). Wilma Flintstone didn’t have a job. I can excuse that because it was the Stone Age, after all. But what about Jane Jetson? This was supposed to be the future. Did the creators not envision a future where women worked outside the home? No, they still had women at home cooking and cleaning, even if it was all done with push-button technology. In the opening to “The Jetsons,” George drops Jane off at the mall on his way to work, and as he is handing her some of his money to spend, she grabs the whole wallet and takes off. Boy, did that really burn me up. I was enough of a feminist at age eight to be pissed off about that, and it still haunts me to this day.

Please understand that I have nothing against choosing to be a full-time homemaker, stay-at-home mom, domestic goddess, or whatever phrase is least offensive these days. I did it myself for several years and it was the toughest job I’ll ever love. However, since feminism is about choice, you would think there would be some animated working mothers out there choosing to carry a briefcase and represent the scores of mommies that go to a job outside the home every day.

Since it would be futile to suggest to these women that they all attend a NOW meeting, I guess my only option is to create my own animated show whose pivotal character is a strong, non-traditional career woman who is also sexy, funny, and a hell of a good cook. Maybe a widowed waitress with a 12-year-old son, who aspires to be a singer but ends up working in a diner with a sassy coworker named Flo. Or a divorced mom who is raising her two daughters in an apartment that needs constant repair by a seedy individual known only as Snyder. Actually, I think I’ll give her four kids (one will be born later, after the first three aren’t “TV cute” anymore), plus a journalism career, and have her husband move his psychiatric practice into the house so he can be there when the little ones get home from school. Wait a minute… these scenarios seem even more unrealistic than animated women without jobs, or AWWJ, as they’ll come to be known (which is convenient because when they get jobs they won’t have to change the organization’s letterhead).

Perhaps I’ll write to Seth MacFarlane and Matt Groening and ask them why they are male chauvinist pigs. Then maybe they’ll invite me to a brainstorming session so I can bounce some ideas off them. I’m sure they would welcome my suggestions. People probably never try to give them ideas for their shows.

I see Marge owning her own hair salon, Lois as an S&M instructor, Francine as a private detective, and Peggy as an interior designer for the colorblind. The clients that could weave in and out of their lives are limitless. This is a comedy gold mine, Mr. MacFarlane, and I suggest you take advantage of it. You don’t want the AWWJ protesting outside your door - they pretty much have their whole day free.

Elizabeth Deroshia